WENGER REJECTS INVITATION TO SPEND £30M

It will only be of limited consolation to those Arsenal fans concerned at the club's lack of spending this summer to learn that Arsene Wenger has permission to spend £30m on a single player. The unsaid confirmation from the club's second-largest shareholder yesterday was that Wenger is determined to pursue success the cheap way.

The Arsenal manager declared in a recent interview that it was his intention to 'make success, not buy it', and that determination has caused the Frenchman to reject an open invitation from the club's board to match the excesses of Chelsea and Manchester United in the transfer market. Rejecting the suggestion that Arsenal's finances were in a parlous state, Danny Fiszman assured reporters attending the Champions League draw in Monaco that it would be "no problem" for Wenger to spend even £30m on a single new recruit. The only problem, some Arsenal fans might conclude, is their manager's refusal to consider the idea.

"If he said to us 'I want this guy and he's £30m, can I buy him?' the answer is yes. Absolutely yes," Fiszman confirmed. "We totally back him. It's his decision."

"There were great hopes that we would buy heavily this summer. But I would refute that we have not bought well. Nasri has two goals in two games at the Emirates Stadium, and if Arsène could find the right player, he would buy again, but he hasn't."

Fiszman was particularly indignant when reminded reports of Wenger that was

being constrained by the cost of building the Gunners' Emirates Stadium.

"I hear all the time that we have no money, but I just wish someone would take the time to look at our accounts. This is a proper business which produces its own cash and lives or dies by its performances. Our net payments are £20 million and the revenue increase from the new stadium is close to £50 million. Explain to me how that stadium is a drain on the club, when it produces an extra £30 million a year.

"This constant suggestion that the stadium is bleeding us dry is crap. The reality is our wage bill is very similar to Manchester United, substantially above Liverpool and substantially below Chelsea - but that is to be expected. We pay good salaries, but we pay them more evenly, so we do not have extremes of very high and very low wage-earners. There is an ethos of a team effort."

Wenger's ethos has also been to introduce young talent, an outlook that Fiszman believes is causing the Frenchman to resist the temptation to spend big.

"There's a dual problem for him. If we were to buy names, you are talking about relatively mature players who need to be integrated into the way Arsène plays. They don't know our style and it also impacts on the youngsters who've been brought through, and in many cases Arsène thinks it is quicker for us to bring a player through our system."